SBA - Small Business Alerts, Advocacy, September 9th

Please see the update from the SBA Office of Advocacy. You can stay up-to-date on our office by reading our comment letters and reviewing our research. As always, we are seeking your input on current regulatory alerts and your participation in our regulatory roundtables. Please be in touch directly with the listed Advocacy contact for any questions or comments on these topics. Feel free to contact me with other questions or concerns.

——Elle Patout Congressional Affairs and Public Relations Manager

PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES INTENT TO NOMINATE NEW CHIEF COUNSEL

On August 29, the White House announced its intent to nominate Gilberto de Jesus to serve as the next Chief Counsel for Advocacy. Mr. de Jesus is currently a Senior Attorney in the Office of Communications Business Opportunities at the Federal Communications Commission.

REGULATORY ALERTS

On August 28, 2014, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a proposed rule for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s Fishery Management Plan for Regulating Offshore Marine Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico.

The rule would establish a regulatory program for offshore aquaculture in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It would:

·include permit and application requirements,

·specify allowable species for aquaculture purposes,

·establish marine aquaculture siting requirements,

·create restricted access zones for aquaculture facilities,

·establish recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and

·establish biological reference points and catch limit criteria.

The rule would require all administrative functions to be performed online.

On August 8, 2014, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the Department of Labor released a proposed rule to require certain contractors to submit reports on employee compensation.

The rule requires employers who file Employer Information Reports (EEO-1 Report), have more than 100 employees, and a contract, subcontract or purchase orders amounting to $50,000 or more to submit a new Equal Pay report. The report would include summary data on employee compensation by sex, race, ethnicity, specified job categories, and other relevant data points such as hours worked and the number of employees.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have extended the comment period for the proposed rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act. This proposal would set forth several categories of waters to be included in the definition as well as establish waters that are subject to the act.

REGULATORY ROUNDTABLES

Department of Justice

On September 15, 2014, at 2:00pm the Office of Advocacy will host a regulatory roundtable on the Department of Justice’s proposed rule to require movie theaters to show movies with closed captioning and audio description for all movie showings (if produced or distributed with this capability).

The Roundtable will be held at the U.S. Small Business Administration, Eisenhower (Concourse level) Conference Room, 409 Third Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416.

On September 19, 2014, at 12:00pm the Office of Advocacy will host a Labor Safety Roundtable. The agenda for this roundtable is still being developed; please email the Bruce Lundegren for issue suggestions.

The Roundtable will be held at the U.S. Small Business Administration, Eisenhower (Concourse level) Conference Room, 409 Third Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416.